Jamal Was Incarcerated For Two Years - Hilltop Tigers Soccer Club Saved His Life & Future For Just $10 A Day You Can Save More Lives & Futures!!! Dear Family, At our Fall Banquet, earlier this month, we presented the Most Resilient Youth Award to Jamal Ibrahim, a brave16 years old who is sharing his story while turning his life around. He is a junior currently enrolled at Westland highschool. In the past, he had been incarcerated for some gangs related crimes. His life changed when Coach Siyat Mohamed, the founder of our Hilltop Tigers Soccer Club, took him under his wings and enrolled him in the soccer club. Jamal recognizes that he was punished for his bad behaviors in the community, hanging out with the wrong crowd and failing in school. Under Coach Mohamed's guidance, Jamal is a different person now. He is attending school regularly and working very hard to bring his GPA up. He also helps at the Mid-Ohio Market at MY Project USA’s Youth Center. He plays for the Hilltop Tigers now and is a winner. He has just been accepted by the Ohio Premiers Soccer Club on a full scholarship. Jamal's case, once again, has proven that our youth programs are protecting and empowering our youth exactly the way we wanted them to. It also gives us hope and confidence that we can save more lives and futures if we are provided with sufficient funding. Currently, there are at least 10,000 children just on the westside of Columbus at high risk of drugs, gangs, violence and incarceration. Most of these are New Americans of Somali and Somali Bantu origin. Columbus ranks high in youth incarcerations. As noticed by the Juvenile Justice Court's Judge Lasheyl Stroud at the kickoff of our new Juvenile Justice Task Force last week, the Franklin County tax payers pay $185,000 per year ($500/night) per youth in incarceration. Research proves that the chances of a kid staying just one night in jail reduces his chances of graduating from highschool and having a productive life significantly. As a community, we are spending $500/day to ruin a youth's life and future. In contrast, MY Project USA's wholesome Youth Empowerment Program that combines recreation, academic, mental heath support and job trainings for all participants, can save and empower a youth for just $10/day, if funded for at least 100 kids at a time. It's $300/month or $3600/year. It's simple mathematics with proven success rate. We can choose to save hundreds of children either from taking the wrong route in the first place or by changing their route afterward, by simply enrolling them in sports and academic programs and by creating safe, fun, empowering spaces for them like our Hilltop Youth Empowerment Center. As winter has already started, we are already taking all measures. Each year, we lose more youth to drugs and gangs during winter. Therefore, we have decided to keep our doors open every singe night this winter. My soccer coaches at least $30,000 to indoor sport facilities. This amount will help us save a minimum of 150 youth off of the street this winter. As we kick off our end of year fundraising campaign on this #GivingTuesday, we ask you to join us by making a one time donation of $3600 and/or scheduling monthly donation of $300/month to protect and empower a youth on behalf of you, your parents and your loved ones. Please keep us in your prayers and give whatever you can. Together we can do it. In Solidarity with Youth and Families, Zerqa Abid, Founder & Executive Director, MY Project USA | 
